Blogs from China, Asia - page 2268

Life begins when…wait…YOU MEAN THERE IS AN END! As most are aware there are milestones in ones life… Your first words, your first bicycle, your first day in school, first kiss, first job…I could go on adinfinitum about the significant points of my life, but I won’t bore you with that. Well I will bore you with one point…holy SHIT, I am turning 40! First off, I never thought I would make past 21, well 25 at the most. I review and analyze, change and delete, add and subtract it all, but it still comes up to being forty. I watch as the world around me is swallowed in its own mirth and smiles as I feel like I am sometimes sitting on the sidelines waiting for the coach to say “Ok Johnston, get you ass ... read more

A few years ago I traveled to Borneo to visit an Orangutan Sanctuary, set a few miles into the rain forest. A pleasant place where they use their limited resources to rehabilitate captured Orangutans, mostly young orphans, thanks to poachers, back into the wild. I was lucky enough, at the time, to have a close and personal encounter with a nursing female Orangutan and her baby, on a path in the jungle. This image fogged my judgment as I signed for a trip to "The Giant Panda Breeding Research Ctr." of Chengdu, in Southern China. THE GIANT PANDA INCIDENT The first impression I had, coming off the bus from central Chengdu, was of Sea World. The second was the San Diego zoo. A few minutes later, together with my group of some 26 other eager tourists, ... read more

Summary - Pearl River Delta - 18th March 2006. Pearl River Delta, covering an area of 45.000 sq. km, it is a triangular agricultural heartland in Southern China. With a history of more than 800 years, Zhongshan City is situated at the south of the Pearl River Delta, is featured by an extensive area of field and rich attractions by the riverside. Lignan River Village, a network of waterways, is famous for its preservation of traditional agriculture and fishing practice that is a rarity in today´s hi-tech world. You travel here back in time with many traditions. Monkey and Bear. Pearl River Delta - 18 maart 2006. Lieve vrienden en vriendinnen, Vandaag een wat minder uitbundige aflevering in vergelijking met gisteren van onze travelblog. Allereerst is het 06.30 uur als wij vertrekken uit het hotel, voor ... read more

If the 12 hour train ride was not really fun, the 17 hour trip to Shanghai was even less fun. We finally rolled in there at 11:30 am on Friday and the next chore was finding a cab that would take us to the hostel that we didn't have reservations for but would hopefully have space. Luckily, we developed a newfound appreciation for traffic assistants when one saw our unsuccessful plight of pointing to the place on the map in the Lonely Planet and about six cab drivers just saying no for no apparent reason. (They didn't want to drive that far away? They didn't like the looks of two foreign girls? Who knows) This guy looked at our map, flagged a cab down, and from our best guess told the driver that he had to ... read more

Summary - Shenzhen / Mainland China / 17th March 2006. Shenzhen is just 1.30 hour travelling away from Hong Kong. Including getting your visa. For a 5 day visa for Shenzhen you pay 150 HKD. Shenzhen is a SEZ - Special Economic Zone - with a high trade level. In Happy Valley you find a place called China Folk Culture Villages. It contains an area of 22 hectares. The 24 villages you find here give you a good view in the habits, culture and living of 22 minority nationalities who live in China. The people here are authentic from the village they represent. It´s a great place to visit with great shows and lot of things to learn about China. This day we broke our own record of making photos - the day is represented by ... read more